Perfect Fall Racing Weather

The cross-country season is off and racing, and getting a chance to race on your home course on a beautiful Saturday in the fall is the perfect way to test your fitness. This season marked the 52^nd annual Wildcat Invitational.

The day got started with our frosh/soph runners. Both boys and girls took advantage of a chance to compete. Dominik Barrios led the way for the boys for the 3^rd race this season, finishing 20^th overall and earning a medal. The story for the young guns has been the front pack of 4. Dom, Joey Des Garennes, Ty Vitanovec, and Brady Husak have been running within 40 seconds of each other in all 3 races this year. Dom, Joey, and Brady ran season and lifetime bests today. Liam Thompson and Aiden Churchill were next in, both rookies to XC, both running PRs. Ezequiel Ocegueda continues his massive improvement, dropping over 11 minutes from his performance at this same meet last year. Freshman Noah DeLuna and Jake Fritts rounded out the race for the guys with big PRs as well.

Ella Ruland and Brooke Rochacz were shoulder to shoulder for almost all 3 miles, both girls earned medals, finishing 7^th and 11^th respectively, both running PRs and breaking into the top 10 in school history on our home course. Nessa Rodriguez and Emily Fannin have both been battling some minor set-backs, but both stepped up big and ran big PRs. Alyssa Cuthbertson also ran a season PR, as did Aayliah Banda who rounded out the race. Ashlynn Sabatini was a big highlight of the race, with a lifetime PR by nearly a minute a half.

The varsity race was led by 6^th and 7^th place finishes by Luke Adair and Ubaldo Rodriguez, both guys broke into the top 10 times in school history on our home course. Micah Ruland took a huge step forward with his season, with a nice season PR to be our 3^rd finisher. Aden Veljacic and Michael Kazak both ran big PRs to end their last Wildcat Invitational with success.

The girls race was led with a season PR by Bridget Kemp. Cyan Bradley finished 2^nd for the Wildcats, running a season best. The story of the race, was Kylie DeFano and Sam Norville who stepped up for the team, running their first varsity race, giving the team 6 athletes on the line. Both girls race lifetime PRs. Kayla DeFano was not to be outdone by her sister, she ran a season PR as well.

Gabe Ibarra went out like a man on a mission and stayed in the lead for the first half mile. He hung tough to run a season best and earn a medal in 12^th place. Thomas Coleman, just missed a medal, but ran a lifetime best. Guilian Salas ran a huge lifetime PR, as the his leadership on and off the course is paying off. The frosh/soph crew who were in the open race saw PRs dropping left and right. Brayden Lane ran even splits to run a PR. Richard Rogers was just behind Brayden, also running a PR. Adriel Moreno also ran a big PR. Luke Florez dropped a few minutes on his PR. Ethan Collins ran 24 minutes for 2 miles 2 weeks ago, today he ran 3 miles in 25 minutes! Zack Omiecinski ran a big PR as well, with a big sprint finish. Chris Johnston finished out the day with a PR as well.

On the day, 90% of athletes ran season best times. 95% of athletes who raced this meet last year, ran faster this year. But the best stat of the meet is every girl who has raced all 3 meets so far as run faster at each one.